Nkambule, an ex Cabinet Minister and parliamentarian, has also confirmed that his articles will no longer appear in the newspaper. Nkambule said the ban on his column was with effect from last Monday, 27 April 2009. His is article did not appear last Monday 27 April. He believes the newspaper was pressured to stop his articles.

 But the Times’ Managing Editor, Dlamini, denies any pressure, saying Nkambule’s column has simply been affected by the routine changes the newspaper was making with regards to content.

 Nkambule told MIS- Swaziland that he personally took his article to the Times last week for publication but was told of the ban without reasons being given.

 “I then received information from other quarters that authorities have ordered the Times to stop publishing my articles. Whatever threat they received might have been very serious as they simply told me that my articles will no longer be published with no reasons being given,” Nkambule said.

Background

In the past three months Nkambule has been under intense pressure from traditional authorities to stop writing his critical column. He was even expelled from traditional regiments, where Nkambule was a member, for his views. The traditional regiments are strong loyalists of King Mswati III, Africa’s last absolute monarch. It will not be surprising if the King, given his stranglehold over the media in Swaziland, has a hand in the ban on Nkambule’s column. A MISA Swaziland study into censorship in Swaziland’s newsrooms carried out in 2008 revealed that the monarchy is responsible for most of the censorship, harassment and intimidation of journalists occurring in Swaziland newsrooms.//